Performers at the event included internationally acclaimed jazz artist Kazzrie Jaxen; two-time Grand Slam Champion poet Laura Moran; Mark Black, John Sebastian and Eric Weissberg singing "No Fracking Way," the renowned artists from ISSUE Project Room; the Reverend Billy Talen and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir and Sabrina Artel of "Trailer Talk." As part of the celebration, five giant video walls were mounted in The Great Hall to showcase the conservation photography of J. Henry Fair and media and video artists.

Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.